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Lansium domesticum
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Lansium domesticum is a species of fruit-bearing tree belonging to the family Meliaceae.
ansium domesticum is a medium-sized, single-trunked tree that usually grows from ten to fifteen meters tall.
The plant has pinnately compound leaves that grow to a length of around twenty to fifty centimeters long per leaf. Each fully-grown leaf has five to seven slightly-leathery, obovate leaflets that can reach a length of twenty centimeters each.
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Encyclopedia
Lansium domesticum is a species of fruit-bearing tree belonging to the family Meliaceae.
Anatomy, morphology and habit
Habit
Lansium domesticum is a medium-sized, single-trunked tree that usually grows from ten to fifteen meters tall.
The plant has pinnately compound leaves that grow to a length of around twenty to fifty centimeters long per leaf. Each fully-grown leaf has five to seven slightly-leathery, obovate leaflets that can reach a length of twenty centimeters each. A very prominent midrib bisects each dark green, glossy leaflet.
Flowers
L. domesticum flowers are hermaphrodite, having both stamen and pistil structures in the same flower. The pale-yellow, fleshy flowers are found in inflorescences or around thirty, in most cases in a raceme usually around thirty centimeters long.
Fruit
Fruits are ovoid, roundish orbs around five centimeters in diameter, usually found in clusters of two to thirty fruits. Each round fruit is covered by yellowish, thick, leathery skin. Underneath the skin, the fruit is divided into five or six slices of translucent, juicy flesh. The flesh is slightly acidic in taste, although ripe specimens are sweeter. Green seeds are present in around half of the segments, usually taking up a small portion of the segment although some seeds take up the entire segment's volume. In contrast with the sweet-sour flavor of the fruit's flesh, the seeds are extremely bitter.The sweet juicy flesh contains sucrose, saccharose, fructose and glucose.
Distribution
Lansium duranum was originally native to the Malaysian peninsula and known locally as Langsat.
Agriculturally, the tree is grown throughout the entire Southeast asian region, ranging from Southern India to the Philippines for its fruit. In the Philippines, where it is locally referred to as the lanzones, the plant is grown mostly on the northern island of Luzon due to the species' narrow range of conditions favorable to its survival. It is also found in abundance on Northern Mindanao particularly in places as Butuan, Cagayan de Oro, and Camiguin. The Camiguin variety is especially sweet and succulent.
Within mainland Asia, the tree is cultivated in Thailand, Vietnam and India, as well as its native Malaysia. Outside the region, it has also been successfully transplanted and introduced to Hawaii and Surinam.
Ecology and life history
It grows wild in Sumatra forests where a wide and longest river in Indonesia lay across the southern part of Sumatra. The river rises and floods the forest lands for a few months, when it subsides, the flood leaves plenty of fallen leaves and twigs enriching and moistening a large area of the forest bed, resulting in ideal conditions for the plant to grow naturally. Local people will come and harvest it as natural forest produce. They climb up the tree with ripe fruits (after observing it), holding with their hands on the smaller branches and shaking it. Mature fruits will fall easily down to the ground. They will then collect it and transport it on a small boat on a nearby river to the villages and sell it.
Evolutionary history
Etymology and taxonomic history
Lansium duranum is currently classified within the family Meliaceae.
It is known variously as langsat (Malay); lansones , lansa,buahan, langseh, langsep, lanzon, lanzone, lansone(Filipino); langsad (for the type of which its skin is quite sticky to the fruit), longkong (for the type of which the skin is easily peeled off without milky latex) (Thai); duku, kokosan (Indonesian), Gadu Guda (Sri Lanka), lòn bon and bòn bon (Vietnamese).
Importance to humans
Bibliography
See also
External links
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